Tuesday, 10 February 2015

It is an interesting time in Indian
politics: Aam Admi Party, formed barely over a year ago recorded a decisive
victory in the Delhi state elections.So
big has been the victory that it has spelled disaster of proportional scale for
the two national parties the BJP and the Congress.Congress has been totally eliminated; BJP won
just 3 seats in a seventy-member assembly.

This is at a time, when just eight months
back, the BJP came to power with an overwhelming majority at the national
elections. The party has been on a victory mode since in other bigger states. The
face of the party and India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is seen to bring in
dynamism and leadership not witnessed in Indian politics for long. He is also
keen to promote economic growth and rapid development.

Delhi’s voters make up the urban poor and
rich. They come from different parts of the country and are reasonably well
informed. Delhi represents the pan Indian ethos: a class of voters that have aspirations.
Those originally from the city want it to be a place of opportunity, those
coming from outside want to rise here. They have migrated and opted for a new
life. It is place, where for most people the issues of caste, race,
language are even religion are irreverent. Delhi has a vast young population
and it reflects how India is going to be in years to come.

This Delhi election saw 11 million new
voters. The AAP party promised them free WiFi.In AAP they saw a renewed optimism. The party’s leader Arvind Kejriwal
is an engineer from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology. He has
worked with a big corporate firm and has been bureaucrat.In their highly effective campaign, they
spoke about real issues confronting the voters like water, sanitation, women’s
security, electricity, and jobs - issues that haunt India at large. It had a well-defined
programme.

A BJP cadre who didn’t want to be identified
said, “they did their homework well. It was a great campaign.”

Apart from the poor poll strategies there
are other issues that may have been a factor for BJP’s defeat. These factors
have also been a concern in the rest of the country. Modi’s overwhelming mandate
hasn’t seen him cracking down on the Hindu fundamentalist forces that have
asserting themselves lately. Religious intolerance in the country has on been rise with a renewed call to promote “Indianess” based on one language and Hindu
religion.

On one hand, Modi has successfully projected himself to be globe tottering leader aligning and reinforcing India's founding values with other major democracies. He is seen taking selfies with world leaders and even charming the US president,
at home young people fear of reprisals and humiliation by the Hindu
fundamentalist groups if they are out to celebrate Valentines’ day.

A postgraduate
student of Jawaharlal Nehru University says (with anonymity) , “ as women I know what it means to
vote for BJP. I will be humiliated if I hold the hand of by boyfriend. They are
a patriarchal lot.”

Anna Vetticad a writer and a journalist says
in her Facebook post“ I fear those
whose stated ideology is to declare India a Hindu rashtra and relegate both
women & minorities (religious minorities, linguistic minorities, sexual
minorities) to a subordinate position in this country... people who say gay people are
"abnormal", people who object to us holding hands in public, people
who tell us it's "against our culture" to have silly fun like buying
Valentine's Day cards and teddy bears for our partners/spouses. This is as much
a vote against hate politics as it is a vote for development.”

By voting AAP to power the voters in Delhi
have sent a clear message to all political parties. People in India want strong
leadership, not a ruthless personality driven politics, they want development
but not division in the society, they want policies based on reality and not
ideology (replacing Sanskrit with German in 21st century makes
little sense). More importantly, they want a harmonious India that is liberal,
multicultural, progressive and secular. This has been the verdict of the day.

Monday, 2 February 2015

India certainly feels endorsedas a emerging global power after Obama’s visit , but at home it needs to
reinforce thevalues that are significant
to the idea of India itself to sustain its global image.

Now the dust has settled after
president Barak Obama’s much celebrated visit as a chief guest for India’s
republic day parade, it is imperative to look at how the new found friendship
between president Obama and prime minister Modi resonates amongst the ordinary
Indians.

It is a little secret that despite
India’s subdued relationship with the US during the Cold War era -which began
with Nehru’s discomfort with the US’ capitalism;
the subsequent tilt towards Soviet Union and disagreements over wide ranging
issues from Nuclear Non –Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to CTBT – for ordinary
Indians, however, the United States has always been a country of awe and land
of opportunities. Throughout the last six decades millions of Indians have
migrated to the US, and today it is a home to as Obama puts it: “3 million
proud American Indians.”They make up
the richest ethnic community in the US with a considerable political
clout.

Whilst at political level USSR
and now Russia have been India’s all weather friends, this relationship has
fallen short of translating into people - to- people contact. The reasons for
this are many: a communist USSR was not very welcoming to outsiders, nor their
economy was commercially vibrant and diverse as the US.The fact that Indian’s readily integrated
with the American way of life speak volumes about inherent value system of
Indians that probably found a stronger expression in America’s identical but
much advanced democratic ideals.Indian Americans naturally prospered and today playing an important role
in warming up the US- Indo ties.

The word “natural” in the context of the US-
Indo relationship has never found more symbolic expression then it did last
week when the two leaders stressed that relationship between the two
democracies can be a defining force in the 21st century.

In many ways the visit by the US
president was special: as a global hero with an inspiring background, Indians
were happy to see him as country’s chief guest on the occasion of its republic day.Political deals apart, prime minster Modi did
well to engage the popular leader with ordinary Indians on radio. Discussing
common topics about their personal likes and dislikes and reinforcement of the
democratic values surely touched the chord of ordinary Indians.Such things were never seen before but it
largely underlined the encompassing significance of this relationship.Symbolically, it also indicated US’ courtship
with India - something Indians love.

Equally significant was Obama’s
speech in the Town Hall which reinforced the shared values of the two nations
and an observation that “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered
along lines of religious faith, along lines of anything, and is unified as one
nation.”

The shared values of the world’s
oldest and largest democracies find the deepest roots in India. This country is
not just multi-race,multi lingual
andmulti religious but in effect a
civilisation of breath-taking
contradictions that is moving forward with a sea of humanity.

Obama in his speech mentioned
about his contradictions“right now, in
crowded neighbourhoods not far from here, a man is driving an auto-rickshaw, or
washing somebody else’s clothes, or doing the hard work no one else will do,”
he told a crowd of about 1,500 people at Siri Fort Auditorium, a performance
venue that hosts art and cultural events.

India is a country that is on the
course of becoming a major global power, but and also there are regions in the
country where a section of the population still cut off from the modern world
and there are other divisions of caste, class and extreme overty. Clearly
India’s challenges are unique and it requires great understanding of history to
understand Indian society.

Does Indians need to be reminded
of this? Clearly yes, many affluent Indians have no idea about these
contradictions. A respected television news editor recently frowned on me for
the stories I was covering for the international media. He said issues like
human trafficking and modern –day slavery is not news. “We have internalised
these issues”, he said.

For India to find a respected
place in the world India will have to uplift its poor and change its attitude towards
people who are not that privileged. For this to happen, a strong leadership is
needed that can stand up and defend the supreme values of the country’s constitution
premised on justice , equality , liberty and fraternity.

It is in safeguarding these
values and promoting the fundamental rights can India ensure an all round
development for its citizens and find its glory in the world.